CD duplication involves burning standard or distinctive shape CD-R with a laser in regular CD or DVD writer drives. The'R' after the arrangement type stands for'Recordable' (As opposed to replicated disks which are referred to as CD ROM in which the'ROM' stands for'Read-Only Memory' as these disks cannot be burnt whatsoever and are pressed at the time of fabrication ).
For CD duplication at Wizbit we use autonomous CD duplicators that can process large quantities of CDs of all sizes quickly and efficiently. This sort of production is ideal for smaller print runs of less than 1000 discs, or at which the discs are required very fast. These discs are generally applied with photo-glossy labels which have been printed at a very large quality laser printer. The laser printing process is smudge-proof and enables full color printing that is acceptable for photographs or intricate colour gradients.
Another advantage of replicated CDs is that we're able to supply them printed, however blank, that you burn your own content onto at a normal CD-RW or DVD-RW drive. This is often helpful if you're sending out individual client files, or if the details that you will need to put on the discs is constantly shifting.
Another main kind of CD and DVD production is known as CD replication and DVD replication and entails pressing the discs out of a glass master. This process is utilized for higher volume discs, resulting in considerably lower unit costs for larger orders of 1000 disks or more.
Advantages:
Ideal for print runs of less than 1000 disks
Full colour printing
Discs can be blank for you to burn your content onto
Disadvantages:
Higher production costs for manufacturing runs of over 1000 discs compared to replicated CDs
The Advantages and Disadvantages of CD duplication vs CD replication (also for DVD duplication and DVD replication)
When you have to make copies of compact discs, what would be the most likely keywords you may search? To most people these two terms likely signify the same. However, to the disc copying industry there's a subtle difference. It is the purpose of this guide to clarify the gap and assist you in making the decision when to use copying and when to use replication, no matter you would like CD or DVD copies.
What is CD Duplication?
With the decreasing prices on CD/DVD burners, making a disc backup is now as convenient as making a xerox copy before. CD burning or DVD burning is just another term people like to use with this way of making disk copies. The disc copying industry prefers to call this as CD duplication or DVD duplication.
Unless it's used by yourself, a duplicated disc will have to be marked or labeled somehow. You can do that in a lot of ways.
Mark the disc with a Sharpe
This is the fast and dirty way of labeling. As you can imagine, the disc will not be quite attractive and attractive.
Publish the artwork onto a die-cut paper tag and attach the label to the disk.
Die cut CD tags are sold at most office supply stores such as Office Depot or Office Max. Businesses making CD labels include Avery, Meritline, Neato, Surething, etc.. Labels come as matte and glossy. The glistening labels are best for high resolution inkjet printers. Normally glossy labels are 3 times as expensive then the matte labels. Matte labels are great for laser printers.
Once a label is printed, it is possible to peel it off and then cup it to some tag applicator with the sticky side facing up. The data side of the disk is then pushed against the applicator. Air bubbles on the tag need to be rubbed off immediately otherwise they are there eternally. When you print the labels, be sure to coordinate with the paper profile to your printer. For instance, if you are using the Epson printers, then choose the right paper type if you print the labels. Use Plain Paper for matte labels, and utilize Glossy Photo Paper for glossy labels.
One disadvantage of using paper label on CD or DVD is the tag adds to the thickness of the disk. When Philips designed the CD-R and DVD-R they did stipulate the appropriate thickness. When combining the depth of the CD-R or DVD-R itself with the paper tag, the general thickness would probably be thicker then the supposed specifications. Even though most disc readers have the ability to re-read whenever there is mistake, this would definitely reduce the reliability. Another drawback, and probably the most unfavorable one, is the disk could possibly got stuck in slit load CD or DVD drives such as auto stereo or iMac. If your CD is any audio content, avoid using tag labels.
Printing the artwork directly onto the disc using inkjet printer
This is by far the most preferable way of printing disk label. Epson makes inkjet printers which can print artwork directly on a disk with inkjet printable coating very affordable. Media makers like Ritek, Taiyo Yuden, HP, and Maxell additionally sell inkjet printable media at just a fraction higher than the typical media. The benefits are the artwork can be printed at very significant resolutions and this eliminates the thickness issue for the paper label. The disadvantages are the method is quite slow and the disc surface is usually not water and finger print evidence. Business such as Primera markets and sells a disc laminator that adds a thin film coating into the inkjet printable surface. Once laminated, the disc has a slick appearing and it becomes water and finger printing proof. Replicator such as New Cyberian can also employ a UV dried lacquer in addition to the inkjet surface to give the glossy feel and appearance.
Printing the artwork directly onto the disc using thermal transport
Manufactures such as Teac, Microboards, Primera, and Rimage market and market CD printers which use thermal transport. The media for thermal also arrive in two taste; silver or white background. The price on the press is slightly higher than routine disk. The most costly part is the thermal film as well as the depreciation on this machine. Your minimal investment on the equipment might starts from US$4000 for both B/W and US$8000 to get a full-color unit. If you don't plan to have a big volume of disk printed differently thermal ought to be avoided.
What is CD replication?
In contrast to duplication, replication is the expression used for large volume industrial disk copying. In a disc replication plant, making disc copies goes through the following phases.
Glass master is also known as the father of disc replication. A piece of glass is polished and then small holes are etched on the glass surface deep into the substrate to represent the 1 of the binary material. The glass master becomes an specific replica of the original master.
Stamper mastering
As described earlier, a stamper is actually utilized at the making of this disk, not the glass master. A stamper is usually made out of an aluminum plate. It's the compliment of the glass master meaning each of the 1 on the glass master will soon develop into the 0's and the 0's will become 1's on the stamper. This male/female relationship between the glass master and the stamper makes the stamper the mother of this replication. When a disk is molded from the stamper the information reverse again to the first.
Injection molding
A disc is make by injecting molten polycarbonate onto the stamper. The data on the disc will be the compliment of this stamper in order that they are converted back into the first since the glass master.
Sputtering
The polycarbonate discs following injection molding are transparent. A reflective mirror coating needs to cover up the disc so the pits of information could be read while the laser is reflected back into the disk reader. The practice of creating the disc reflective is called sputtering. The argon ions are drawn to the aluminum goal by using a high voltage. Since the ions hit the goal, particles of aluminum have been ejected and are hauled on the CD surface.
Artwork printing
Before artwork can be printed a lacquer is applied to the disc surface. Artwork is then printed on top of the transparent lacquer. There are two methods to publish the art; i.e. silkscreen or offset. Silkscreen printing is fantastic for vector based images and cancel is very good for picture based images. If your art is designed utilizing Illustrator without any jpg or tiff file, cd duplication for cheap then the art is the most likely vector based meaning all the artwork elements are represented by regular shapes and lines. If you use Photoshop to make your design chances are the artwork will be photo based. Offset should be used for photo based artwork. Color matching can only be done on vector based graphics.
To duplicate or to replicate?
So when should we use duplication and when should we use replication? With the descriptions above it will be so obvious that when time is of nature, you haven't alternative but utilize duplication. The unit price will be higher than replication but at least you can make certain the discs you need can be prepared in 24-hrs. Another situation you need to use copying is when the quantity is small. You likely won't here an expert printer to print 10 or even 100 duplicates unless it is absolutely crucial. By the same token, when the volume is small a duplication job will suffice. That leaves the only situation when replication should be used; i.e. when you have enough time and the volume is big, say 1,000 or more. Many CD duplication companies such as New Cyberian Systems also accept replication at the quantity of 500. But when you compare the prices for 500 and 1,000, you will notice the difference is actually not that far.